Nigel Brooksby appointed as new Pertinax Pharma Chairman

Pertinax Pharma has announced the appointment of Nigel Brooksby as its chairman. His chief responsibilities will be to assist in corporate, strategic and business development moves into its commercialisation phase, following the launch of Pertinax®. This unique technology which enables controlled and sustained release of the antimicrobial, chlorhexidine (CHX) has wide ranging potential applications, spanning the wound care, medical device, dental and veterinary markets.

Nigel Brooksby is highly regarded as an experienced businessman and entrepreneur in the life sciences arena. Over the last seven years, he has been involved as chairman, director and strategic advisor in raising significant investment. In his role as chairman of the UK Life Sciences Strategy Board, he secured a £32 million bid from the UK Government for the continued expansion and development of skills for the life sciences sector. In 2015, he was instrumental in gaining a listing for a clinical stage biopharma company on NASDAQ, in which he continues to be a key investor and director. He has been a long-standing investor and strategic adviser in a novel biotechnology company that achieved an AIM listing earlier this year. Under the auspices of his company, Steel-Bars Ltd, through his extensive network of contacts in global pharma companies at CEO level, Brooksby has undertaken many projects in partnering biotech companies with big pharma. He is also a non-executive director at Porton Biopharma, a director of Stabilitech Pharma, and a non-executive director at Chronos Therapeutics. Nigel is also chairman of Clinical Insights Ltd and Neurocentrx Pharma.

During his 38 year career in the pharmaceutical industry, Brooksby achieved a meteoric rise from medical sales representative to industry leader. He has made a significant contribution to the companies he has worked for, the industries he has worked in and the charities he has supported. Previously, he held senior appointments inWellcome (now GSK), in Pfizer and, until his retirement, was a member of the Sanofi Executive Committee in Europe and America and chairman and managing director of the Sanofi Group in the UK and Ireland. With Brooksby at the helm, Sanofi’s turnover increased ten-fold in ten years to £1 billion – establishing the company as one of the UK’s fastest growing pharmaceutical companies.

Brooksby is a past president of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and received the honour of lifetime member in recognition of his services to the life sciences. He holds several academic, charity and life sciences chairmanships and senior board positions including chairman of the Pharmaceutical Directors Club (PDC).

Brooksby commented, "I am delighted to take on this position at such a pivotal phase in the company’s development. Pertinax has  enormous market potential in multiple fields. We are already in talks with several manufacturers and over the course of the next twelve months, we confidently expect to have applications of Pertinax in development for use in wound care, veterinary and dental products."

Michele Barbour, Founder and CSO of Pertinax Pharma commented: "We are delighted that Nigel has chosen to join our board. His unparalleled experience in the pharmaceutical and related industries, his long established industry connections and his experience with early stage biomedical companies make him the ideal individual for the tasks at hand. Indeed, we look forward to Nigel playing a pivotal role in Pertinax Pharma’s continued development as we bring the benefits of our patented and commercialised Pertinax technology to the healthcare sector."